HIGHLIGHTS

The Indian women hockey team's dream of reclaiming the gold at the Asian Games after 36 years remained unfulfilled.

The loss will hurt the Indians badly as a gold here would have guaranteed a direct qualification in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The Indian women's hockey team failed to break its 36-year-old gold jinx after losing to Japan 1-2 in a keenly contested summit clash to settle for the silver medal at the 18th Asian Games here on Friday.

The loss will hurt the Indians badly as a gold here would have guaranteed a direct qualification in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Minami Shimizu and Motomori Kawamura scored for Japan through penalty corners in the 11th and 44th minute while Neha Goyal's field goal in the 25th minute was the lone strike for India, who were aiming to win their first Asiad gold since 1982.

The Indians had qualified for the final of the Asian Games after a gap of 20 years, having beaten China in the semi-finals.